Lake can leave anglers feeling bluegills

By Bob Riepenhoff


Muskego - The shoreline shallows of Little Muskego Lake were alive with bluegills.

The bluegills appeared to be done with their spawning and now were grouped in big schools, just cruising the sand- and gravel-bottom shallows and, as we soon found out, they were in the mood to feed.

Little Muskego Lake is a 506-acres lake with a maximum depth of 65 feet located in eastern Waukesha County.

According to Sue Beyler, inland fisheries supervisor for the Department of Natural Resources' Southeast Region, the state stocks 25,300 walleye fingerlings every other year, plus 2,530 3- to 5-inch northern pike every year. In addition, the lake has natural populations of largemouth bass and panfish including bluegills, perch, crappies, pumpkinseed sunfish and rock bass.

The most recent fish survey, conducted in 2001, found bass up to 18 inches, bluegills up to about 7 inches, northern pike up to 27 inches and walleyes up to 10 inches, although earlier surveys found walleyes up to 17 inches, Beyler said.

There are no special regulations or boat rentals.

"It gets fished pretty well," Beyler said. "In summer, people catch bluegills and bass, and walleyes at night. Most of the angling I see is early, before the weeds are up and the motorboat traffic is heavy. It's like most southeastern Wisconsin lakes where anglers avoid the middle part of the day when boat traffic is heavy.

"Mornings and evenings it offers good bass fishing. They ice fish it in winter. Kingston Bay in the southwest and Schubring Bay in the southeast produce northern pike through the ice."

Weeds are an issue. In addition to native plants found in the bays, the lake has Eurasian water milfoil and curly leaf pond weed, both undesirable non-native invasive species.

"The city and the lake association have done cutting and chemical treatments to keep the invasive in check, but it's an ongoing problem," Beyler said.

In the 1970s, the lake was drawn down and chemically treated to eradicate an infestation of carp. But the carp have returned, coming from Linnie Lac to the north via the Muskego Creek.

Jim Laganowski and I launched our boat at Idle Isle Park on the north end of the lake on a recent sunny morning with a light breeze out of the southeast. There are smaller launches, with limited parking, off Kingston Drive on the south end of the lake and Island Drive on the northeast end. The launches cost $5, or you can buy a seasonal pass from the city of Muskego for $30 that is also good for Big Muskego and Denoon lakes.

Laganowski, of Franklin, guides on Big Muskego Lake, but this was his first trip to Little Muskego Lake. I'd fished Little Muskego once before for bass.

That's what we decided to try for first. We worked the edge of the weed flat in about 7 to 8 feet of water with plastics, spinner baits and buzz baits but we couldn't find any active bass. We tired deeper water with the same results.

As we worked our way around the southeast island, we noticed that the water was very cloudy. We soon spotted the culprits - spawning carp that were roiling up the water and maybe affecting the bass fishing.

When we motored to the south end, we found clear water that was loaded with bluegills.

We anchored, put down our bass gear and picked up ultralight spinning rods with 4-pound monofilament line and small bobbers to present wax worms hooked on small chicken-feather jigs, and started to catch bluegills. It was easy and fun. You made a cast, waited for the bobber to go down and hooked another fish.

When things slowed down, we'd move the boat to a new spot but, basically, we stayed in about 3 to 8 feet of water, where the weeds started, and had steady action. We caught dozens of bluegills, keeping just enough for a fish fry and releasing the rest.

"In southeastern Wisconsin, the prime time for bluegill spawning is usually the first week in June," Laganowski said. "After that, they'll hang around the first weeds until the water warms up and then they'll move to deeper water. If you can find them, the fish will be hungry."

We didn't find the bass, but we timed Little Muskego Lake's post-spawn bluegill bite just right.